Chapter Thirty-two
Winky's Warning
Friday May 1, 1997
"What's up, Sirius?" asked Anna Daily. She'd enjoyed the challenge of figuring out who most of the acquired assets that Dumbledore had acquired actually belonged to and was ready for the next challenge that he had for her.
"I'd like you and Layla to do the walk through on tomorrow's property." He handed her sheet with the address.
"No problem. Are you expecting trouble?"
He replied, "Of a sort. I'm attempting to prevent it. It's Rita Skeeter's old place. When Amelia sold it to us, she asked that Skeeter's records and gossip notes simply be burned. I've every reason to believe that she'll have hidden rooms, floor safes and the like, I really don't care if Dumbledore's phoenix had a tawdry affair with Harry's owl or any variations.
"If it's not gold, jewelry, paper currency, or some sort of household item that Arthur or Cedric can sell, I'd prefer that it be burned as we agreed to. If you want to bring Arthur along, feel free to call him. Be sure and have Layla check outside and have her Look a ways into the neighboring yards. I wouldn't be surprised if there were extra copies of the juicy stuff. When you finish, please give Remus a call. We can look through her vaults and see what they lead to."
Anna replied, "OK."
"Any questions?"
"No. We'll handle it. I'll call you later."
…. - …
Except for the missing Horcrux and the desk with enough traps to burn down a mansion, in terms of being sneaky, Skeeter's 1,700 square foot home could have given Malfoy Manor a run for the money. There were floor safes, a hidden room behind a wall and coins buried out in the yard; Lucius would have felt right at home.
In her years as an investigator, Anna had come to accept some truths about human nature – some men cheated on their wives, some women cheated on their husbands. Sex and money were frequently used as weapons. Marriages or relationships occasionally went bad. Men and women occasionally killed each other rather than simply walking away. Money was frequently the motive. There were just as many dirty tricks played in the boardrooms as bedrooms. Greed and lack of discipline were frequently the cause.
Fortunately, Skeeter's home had a large fireplace. Anna started a fire with some split logs and for six hours they tossed tawdry tales, photos, surveillance reports, bribes, blackmails, shoddy cover ups, murders and the like into the fireplace. By the end of the day, Anna came to several conclusions;
Had Skeeter had less fascination with titillation and a stronger moral rudder, she would have made a decent investigator.
Anna also concluded that, while Skeeter made her name as a muckraker working for the Daily Prophet, she made her living blackmailing man and women with wandering eyes who were in generally happy marriages with respectable lives.
Like Umbridge, Sheeter didn't believe with doing business with Gringotts. There were bags of gold coins and stacks of pound notes everywhere. Skeeter didn't confine her investigations to the wizarding world.
Sadly, in spite of having made a very good living throughout the years, there was nothing in the house to indicate that Rita had lived a happy life. There were no pictures of her with friends, interesting places visited, or pet lapdogs. She was just a woman that no one trusted or wanted as a friend.
By dinner time, the fire had burned low, the file cabinets and desks were empty, holes in the yard had been refilled and the coins and currency had been deposited. Anna was going home to her husband and three corgis. Layla was going home to Tik Tock, who she hoped to have babies with. The house was ready for Lupin and Cedric.
… - ...
While Anna and Layla were getting rid of the rubbish that had been Skeeter's livelihood, Harry was in the breakroom getting an Orange Crush when Winky hurried in. She pulled at Harry's trouser leg and said, "Harry Potter is needing to collect as much strand as possible from hairy spiders in May." He listened carefully to her words.
"Harry Potter needs to buy phone so Hagrid can call Harry Potter when he needs to. Go now, Harry Potter."
They quickly talked it over and Harry and Emma went to Harrods and purchased the largest telephone with the largest buttons that they could find. They also found a battery powered charging station that would keep the phone charged for the summer.
They went back to the Wand Shop. Dobby and Winky had left to go someplace.
Emma asked, "In plain words please, what's going on?"
Harry gave a word-by-word account of Winky's conversation from earlier that morning.
Emma asked, "Is something going to happen to Hagrid?"
Hermione had a different idea. "What if something happens to the forest?"
Harry replied, "It's too big. What could happen to Hagrid? Maybe something would happen to the spiders?"
Emma jotted down the three lines of thought. She asked, "OK What could happen to Hagrid that we could help with?"
Hermione replied, "He could get sacked or attacked."
Emma replied, "Either are possibilities. What could happen to the forest?"
Hermione answered her own question saying, "It could get struck by lightning and a fire started but people would put it out before it got too big. Besides, we had a fair bit of rain two weeks ago."
Emma remarked, "OK. What could happen to the spiders?"
Harry replied, "A few of them could be killed easily enough. If someone went in with a shotgun or something, I suppose they could blast a dozen of them or so before they were poisoned."
Emma asked, "When are you going to see Hagrid next?" She didn't think Harry's idea sounded right.
"Tomorrow. We're going to give Longclaw a bunch of sheep and schedule web gatherings for May 10 and 24."
"Are you going to visit anyone in the school?"
"No. I don't think so."
"OK." She didn't know if that was a good idea or not.
… - ...
Saturday May 3
As Harry was walking to Hagrid's home by the forest on the first Saturday in May, he recalled Winky's ominous warning to collect all of the available strand in May. He had sent 100 sheep from Yasgur to Longclaw earlier that morning. The spiders were just waking up for the spring and were very hungry.
Harry had greeted Longclaw and said, "I hope that this is the first of many good trades this season. I will be back in seven days to collect your magnificent webbing. Enjoy the tasty sheep."
Previously Winky had also told him to buy a cell phone for Hagrid. It was the largest one that he could find and had a single reprogrammed number – Harry's. It also came with a large charging unit with a battery designed to last the summer. Harry showed him how to use it. Hagrid had pointed out that he could always just send an owl. Harry pointed out, "Sometimes an owl might take too long."
… - …
As her new cell phone rang, Cindy answered, "Cindy Creevey."
The voice replied, "Cindy, this is Rolf Toftland."
"Good morning Mr Toftland. How can I be of assistance?" She didn't recognize the name.
"I'll be sending your healer over."
"I'm sorry, I don't recognize the name."
"I'm Rolf Toftland, Associate Head Healer."
"OK. How can I be of assistance?"
"I'm sending the healer over for the new school."
After ten minutes, Cindy made it clear that the school needed a licensed nurse, not a healer and in any case, someone wouldn't simply be sent over, like a hot pizza. She ended the call.
The third call of the day produced better results. The caller actually identified themselves properly. "Ms. Creevey? My name is Roberta Evans. I'm a certified nurse with additional credentials as a Healer. I'm interested in talking with you about the school nurse position at Lily Potter something at your convenience. Michelle Wood gave me your name and number. I was hoping that I could come visit with you."
An hour later, they were having tea at the Harrods Tea Room. Cindy explained, "We don't have a building yet but we hope to open in September. We're looking in the London area or a good area nearby. The fact is, I'm in desperate need of an accredited school nurse who would be easy to work with who knows about magic."
Roberta explained, "Hogwarts class of 1984. I went to Royal and earned Registration as a Children's Nurse. After working a while, I studied to become a magical Healer at St. Mungo's and finished a bit over a year ago. I actually treated Colin when I was out at Hogwarts. He's an active lad. Fortunately the Wandout didn't last too long; well, we were at the front of the line. Harry Potter made my wand."
Cindy smiled, "He taught me charms and helped me get my OWL. Small world. Anyway, we're opening a primary school in September and want to attract non magical children who have been hurt in accidents or similar as the non magical children. Essentially, I'm wondering if they can be treated over the course of the school year?"
Roberta asked, "What sort of accidents?"
Cindy admitted, "I should be asking you, I suppose. I was thinking of some child who got all banged up up in a car accident – broken bones. Someone who would have a hard time getting around their current school."
Roberta asked, "So the school would be wheel chair friendly?"
"Correct. We'll need a Physical Therapist or two on staff."
… - …
Two hours later they had a basic plan sketched out. Cindy had made up her mind and said, "If you'd like the job, you're hired. When can you start?"
Roberta replied, "I would. Thank you. What can I do to help until the school opens?"
"We need some promotional brochures."
"I can help write those. We'll want one made that's suitable for magical children, one that's specifically focused on injured children and one for ordinary children without magic. Since we're meeting here, I assume there isn't a temporary space yet?"
Cindy replied, "Correct. How about the Wand Shop? They have that wonderful break room that we could probably use for a few weeks. I'll give them a call.
… - ...
Wednesday May 7
The Break Room worked well; at least initially. Harry, Dobby and Dan were out fishing when Cindy and Roberta stopped by. Emma and Hermione agreed and told the two that the space was theirs. Essentially they decided to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission. Technically the building belonged to Harry.
Emma and Hermione were delighted to help the two women develop their brochures and objectively the finished product would be better for their efforts. They jointly concluded that while the front side might be common, they'd also want one directed at medical professionals, who would be handing out the materials.
The two visitors quickly became three as they added an experienced Physical Therapist who they'd met from the Introduction to Charms class, Tim Streeter.
… - ...
Saturday May 10
Harry and Dan had collected several hundred empty 500 foot fishing line spools from the sporting goods store manager who was more than happy with the hundred pounds that the dark haired teen had given him. With the addition to the empty spools that Harry already had, he had enough for 300,000 feet of strand – far more than he expected to collect that month.
Harry, Hermione, a dozen elves, a dozen goblins went with Hagrid to Longclaw's part of the forest. There were webs as far as any of them could see. The elves immediately got to work and brought an extra fifty sheep when they had finished as an extra gift.
By noon, they had collected 100,000 feet of strand. Harry asked Dobby to put it in the vault, as they had no immediate need for it. They currently had another 20,000 feet of in the shop.
Harry thanked Longclaw as well as everyone who made the trip. They would be back in two weeks.
… - …
Tuesday May 13
Cindy was beyond grateful for the help that Amelia, Michelle and Gretta had provided her. She had a very generous first year budget, plenty of money approved for the capital expenditures. She had the names and contact information of four solid magical candidates for teachers, a school nurse/healer and the all important physical therapist. The Introduction to Charms class was proving to be a goldmine with respect to candidates. Beyond that, she had the contacts from her former schools to acquire the rest of the staff; at least for a few years.
Michelle had come up with some very clever ideas for their brochures. They had sent it out to parents of known magical children. They also given copies to Flitwick, Susan and Hannah to hand out in the Introduction classes as needed.
All they needed was a building and she was ready to begin writing the contracts.
… - ...
Wednesday May 14
Their trip to Iceland didn't go at all as expected. Harry had been advised that they could sell up to 7,500 wands and thus he put Reykjavik on their schedule. They barely sold 1,500. They left after two days and most of the second day had been spent sightseeing. In fairness, the scenery was superb. Godafoss was a fantastic waterfall and the Kerid Crater was breathtaking.
Beyond that, Harry was hoping that they could sell the extra wands in Prague to get back on his forecasted sales schedule. In the mean time, they had blocks to glue and sand.
… - …
Friday May 16
By the end of the second week, Cindy was interviewing Librarians. Soon there were four people. As it turned out, one didn't just go to Florish and Blotts and order The medium sized primary school library selection by owl and have them delivered the next day.
Had Amelia not gone and named the school after Harry's mum, he'd have given them the boot after a month.
Cindy brought in two teachers and more often than not, the refrigerator was low on Orange Crush when Harry walked in for a bottle after lunch.
… - ...
Saturday May 24
The same group went back to the forest two weeks later. As before, the elves delivered 100 sheep early that morning. By noon they had again finished. Harry asked if he could come back in two weeks. Longclaw said, "You are always welcome to come and make a good trade. I am sorry that the strong winds last night destroyed so many of the webs. We had made many more. We will make many large webs for you before you return."
Harry replied, "Thank you, Longclaw. Someday I hope that we can be of direct service to you in return." He had hoped to collect 125,000 feet for the day instead of 25,000 that they had managed to gather.
As before, Harry asked Dobby to put the strand in the vault. They had a total of 125,000 feet in the vault and another 12,000 feet in the shop.
… - …
Monday May 26
Cindy, Roberta Evans and newly hired Physical Therapist, Tim Streeter met frequently, discussing how to best accommodate the 30-35 injured children that they were expecting in September. Being the public face of a as-yet purchased school, they had each participated in developing the brochures that had been mailed out. They met with parents and received advice from the medical professionals with respect to what proscribed therapy would likely be required for various types of injuries.
With guidance from Head Healer Amanda Crabtree, they had two low-doasge potions that they could give to the injured children. Amanda recommended a bone strengthening potion. It was similar to Skele-Gro, except it didn't replace non-existing bones; rather it strengthened bones and repaired existing breaks. Additionally she developed a muscle strengthening potion designed to remove the effects of atrophy from non use due to the injury. Essentially they could quickly get the child up and better than new.
"How will it be administered?" asked Cindy.
Amanda suggested, "The best method would be to have a fruit juice dispenser in the therapy room. It's a very low dose mixture; we're assisting the body, not rebuilding it outright. Serve it in a paper cup to minimize the chance of it going home with the child." She asked, "Tim, what sort of exercises are you helping with?"
"It's situational. In the case of an arm or shoulder injury, restoring range of motion is the primary goal."
"How often will you be meeting with the injured children?"
Tim replied, "On a daily basis, if possible. What time periods will be available?"
Cindy replied, "I was planning on having a staggered lunch period, preceded or followed by physical education. Part of the decision depends on the size of the school yard and gymnasium."
Amanda asked, "Tim, how many children can you accommodate at a time?"
"That depends on the injury. If the child is relearning how to walk, they may need full-time assistance. If they're working on one of the exercise machines, several children could be accommodate at a time."
"I could help," remarked Roberta.
Cindy replied, "Thank you and I was hoping you'd say that.'
"My thought was in the direction of looking for a second therapist," observed Crabtree. "There are also scheduling opportunities. Children who need to primarily use the exercise equipment could be scheduled over the lunch/recess time period and children who need individual help could be scheduled in the mornings or afternoons. The alternative is to start with a second therapist."
Tim observed, "The need isn't an if, rather a when. Parents will enroll their children when one of their children become injured during the year. If we're successful at what we're doing, the school will develop a very good reputation. No one is going to want to turn away a broken seven year-old child. Cindy, when a building is purchased, we'll need to set capacity for the year and reserve the number of slots for the magical children. If we open with 200 children, I guarantee you that will finish with 225; assuming you let the children stay the year."
Cindy frowned at that. She hadn't considered that the school could become an eight week alternative to the child's regular school.
Tim continued, "As for scheduling the therapy, keep in mind, it's a matter of perspective. One of the second form's parents told me, From one perspective the student is missing an hour of class time a day. From another perspective, the student is still able to attend school five hours a day. The reality that you'll get them healed up as quickly as possible is icing on the cake." Cindy saw the truth in his insightful words. Opening with 150 and small class sizes sounded perfect.
… - ...
Short Interlude
Kingsley Shacklebolt had been an exceptional field Auror, While he possessed well honed fighting skills; his real skill was the ability to diffuse dangerous, confrontational situations. Along the way, he had been an excellent squad leader. He had never held the position of Head Auror, as the last act from Barty Crouch before getting transferred out of the Aurors was to promote Rufus Scrimgeour. Kingsley made the jump over Scrimgeour when Amelia became minister.
Amelia had been promoted by Fudge to DLME director at the recommendation of Dumbledore, who thought that she would consider it a favor owed to him.
To Crouch's surprise, Bones had received the appointment to Head of DMLE over Scrimgeour, who had far greater political ambitions.
In the most recent election, Scrimgeour had seriously considered running. Then Amos announced that he was running. Credible (but incorrect) word leaked out that he was backed by Ogden and his millions. Scrimgeour absolutely believed that Diggory would win in a three-way race and as such, never announced his candidacy. He'd rather continue working for Shacklebolt and Amelia than take his chances with Diggory and Ogden.
It looked like Diggory would be a sure winner before two things occurred. Marchbanks handed out 2,000 OWL certificates in the weeks before the election, then Potter and Black wrote compelling endorsement letters that easily counteracted the vitrol-filled letter from Bagman in support of Diggory. The combination of the three letters vastly diminished Diggory's support while raising Amelia's.
… - …
After being appointed Head Auror, Scrimgeour had been eager to put his scratch mark on the Auror department. As such, he reshuffled the various Auror teams, with the result that the stronger teams became even stronger and the moderately skilled teams diminished in skill. At the top of the ladder were two teams that he had confidence could have fought toe-to-toe with the best of the Death Eaters.
With Fudge as minister and Malfoy dropping sacks of coins everywhere he went, beginning in 1982, Fudge had adopted a peace-dividend philosophy. As such, when an Auror resigned or retired, they weren't replaced. Instead, the other departments grew in headcount. Guided by Malfoy's generous campaign contributions, the suggested applicant almost always received the job offer.
Knowing this, Scrimgeour made the decision to not cull the less capable Auror ranks at the bottom. Instead, he created the J-Team. These were the guys brought in during the take anyone months directly before Baby Harry vanquished Riddle late in 1981. Even after 15 years on the job, they had never earned a promotion. Scrimgeour had given them the assignment of keeping the ministry building safe; in other words, keeping the employee lunchroom orderly.
When the ministry building largely closed, Scrimgeour had contemplated placing the team at St. Mungo's. The idea was met with much resistance – from St. Mungo's.
Last September, when the request came from the new Hogwart's head, Anne Chambers for additional security, Rufus jumped on the opportunity and transferred the J-Team to Hogwarts. Rufus was a happy man.
… - …
Saturday May 31
The J-Team was nominally led by a sixteen year veteran Auror named Jim Nib. Like the others, he had been hired in the desperate days before Riddle's first fall. For years, he had never been promoted until Scrimgeour collected the least capable aurors and formed the J-Team. At that point, Nib was given the rank of Auror-2 - equivalent to a corporal in many armies.
Also in the team were the even-less competent team members, Jim Tuttle, Jim Paulson and Jim Mikelson.
While they still officially reported to Scrimgeour, they had a dotted line reporting relationship with Anne, the Hogwarts Head who gave them their daily assignments.
Their stated primary duty at Hogwarts was the safety of the students. In reality, they spent most of their time keeping them safe by proctoring detentions. The professors appreciated not having to spend their evenings with the disruptive students, who they didn't enjoy spending any time with, let alone their evenings off. As a result, they gave the J-Team members glowing praise to Chambers who didn't know their history. The J-Team appreciated not having to clean up the ministry lunchroom. Both sides thought they had received the best deal in the assignment.
… - …
Anne was having a difficult time with Hagrid. She recognized that at least half of the problem was her own bias – she came from an indoors academic background. She was used to working with colleagues who had decades of formal education, who held a mastery or three; earned by attending classes and publishing papers. It was the environment that she was most comfortable working in.
The hires originally made by Gringotts were largely from that mold. They had formal degrees and a decade or more of success as classroom instructors. In short, they were good at their jobs.
Moonshine and Clearwater were a step outside that mold, in that while they both possessed excellent masteries, they also had a decade of successful work experience outside the classroom. That said, they both were engaging instructors and like the non-magical class instructors, they were also good at their jobs.
Flitwick and Sprout brought a degree of stability that was comforting to the Minister, students and parents. Beyond that, they were likable.
In contrast with the others, everything that Hagrid knew had been acquired by first-hand observation. Unquestionably, he had an expert level of knowledge of the forest and its inhabitants; most of which, frightened her. Care of Magical Creatures wasn't an offering at Salem. She hadn't taken it while at Hogwarts and she simply didn't like large, scary, hairy animals – let alone man eaters. Her limited first hands-on experience with the thesterals had done nothing to change that bias.
Anne tried her best to get beyond Hagrid's alarming size. A few of the students recognized his extensive knowledge and found him to be an affable font of knowledge. Far more were honestly a bit afraid of him and his rumored monster fixation. Again, it came down to size. By example, many of the students felt intimated by his 150 pound pet boar hound, Fang. To a first year, it looked like a perfect killing machine. From nine foot tall Hagrid's perspective, it probably resembled a beagle.
She had read his file – expelled as a student – offered a pity position, as he was an orphan. Dumbledore promoted him to instructor a few years ago because it didn't cost him anything. Immediately a student in his class was injured. He seemed to be on a path to unemployment. Recently Bones got him his wand rights restored and he somehow managed to receive an OWL certification to make it legal.
Last and probably least was Sprout's warning that there were many truly dangerous creatures in the forest and Hagrid was responsible for keeping the students away from the forest. It sounded like a wild exaggeration.
There was a knock on the door – another interruption.
… - …
The weather was perfect, so Nib decided to take the team to Hogsmeade for a late lunch. For better or worse, the J-Team had received practically no direct supervision for the last ten years. Scrimgeour didn't require anything more than a monthly summary of activity and vacation days used, so he could square things with payroll.
Lunch lasted several rounds, so it was about five when they headed back. They decided to take a shortcut through the forest. After fifteen minutes, they found the remains of two students; literally by walking on their bones. They didn't know who they were, but the faded green piping on one of the robes was a clear give-away. They transfigured a large canvas sack and placed the bones in the bag.
Nib had quite a fright when four bear cub size spiders lumbered by, just yards away, off to their side. They marked the area and hurried out of the forest as quickly as possible.
Proper procedure would have been for Nib to mark the area, and report in immediately to Scrimgeour, who would have dispatched an investigation team, a second team and Shacklebolt. In his lunchroom job, Nib had never been given any such instruction. In fact, the only direct instruction that he had been given was from Anne, who had asked to be notified should anything unusual occur.
So it was that a perfect storm of uncommunicative procedural reporting had been created. It would prove to have disastrous results.
… - ...
Bag of human remains in hand, Nib and crew apparated to the edge of the gates by Hagrid's home. From there, they ran the quarter mile from the gates up to the castle.
Ten minutes later, they had the genesis of a plan worked up. After talking with Anne, Jim Nib called Scrimgeour.
After listen to his idea, Rufus was specific, directing, "Don't start the forest on fire; soak the ground around the area that you want to fire before you ignite anything. Do you want another team sent out to assist?"
"No. we can handle it."
Anne asked, "What did Scrimgeour say?"
"Decide how big of an area to burn, soak the outer edge thoroughly and burn em out."
"What did he say about the remains?"
Nib replied, "Nothing. We'll hang onto them. They've been there for years. There's nothing to do. We gotta get them spiders. Clearly they represent a danger to the staff and students."
… - ...
Separately, Tuttle and Nib both had called Scrimgeour. Both had mentioned the giant spiders that they had a narrow escape from. Both had assumed that the other had called first and had mentioned finding the remains of the students. Neither had.
As they both finalized their plans with Anne, they both mentioned that they'd talked with the Head Auror and had been given the direction to investigate how large the area was, soak the perimeter and burn out the spiders.
In her defense, Anna had heard that they were all long-time Aurors and had frequently received high praise about them from the staff. Further, as she would have expected, they had checked in with the Head Auror and had been given specific direction. That the words get rid of the (monster sized) spiders were exactly what she had hoped to hear. The possibility that her bias against creatures truly existed and that it might have somewhat shaded her thinking never entered her mind.
"We'll go get the brooms, fly over the area and see if we can find them." Minutes later, the five had each grabbed a broom and apparated to the edge of Hogsmeade. They mounted their brooms and headed into the forest. Just to the north, they could see the stream that ran east-west through that part of the forest. As they were only fifty feet off of the ground, it was easy to see the details. Soon they saw hundreds of spiders.
While the area was considerably larger than what she had been expecting, the presence of the stream acting both as a fire block as well of a means of preventing the spiders from escaping was comforting to Anne. They marked out the boundaries in the thick brush and began soaking the ground using the Aguamenti charm. It was slow work, as they had long lines to soak but they were making no noise to alert the spiders. Admittedly Anne was in a hurry to get this finished to avoid any interference from Hagrid.
After an hour, they were satisfied that they had taken sufficient precaution to avoid burning down the entire forest. Further, there was no particular wind.
They went to the corners. Nib and Mikelson were on the western corners, north and south respectively. Paulson and Tuttle were on the two eastern corners north and south respectively. Anne was down by Tuttle and would make the flight west to the southwest corner where Mikelson currently was. At the appointed minute, they each cast a sweeping incendio and began creating their fire.
… - …
Hagrid was in his pumpkin patch, tilling the soil when he first smelled the smoke. As he was at the edge of the forest, he had good visibility. He did the first thing that came to mind. He ran into his house and called Harry.
He pressed the big button on the cell phone and a moment later, Harry answered.
Hagrid said, "Harry, the forest looks to be on fire. I need yer help."
Harry asked, "Which end is on fire?"
"The south west end by Hogsmeade. Can yer get some help?"
"We'll call Amelia and get all of the aurors out. Don't get caught in the fire, Hagrid."
… - …
At the other end of the conversation, the Grangers realized that something was very wrong. Dan asked, "What's wrong? How can we help?"
Immediately Harry replied, "Call Amelia. Tell her that there is a giant forest fire in the Forbidden Forest. The Aurors should bring as many brooms as they can or use the school brooms."
… - …
A few minutes earlier in the forest;
"Resoak the lines so the fire doesn't get out of control," directed Anne to Tuttle and Mikeleson as Nib and Paulson flew diagonals to light the inside of the area quicker. The fire had started out as thin lines but was rapidly getting far thicker. It had been dry for the last week and the tall brush on this side of the forest was rapidly igniting.
… - …
Back at the Grangers, Emma had made the call to Amelia, who immediately called Kingsley.
Hermione portkeyed to the New Elf Land to find the elves. Perhaps they could help put out the fire.
Harry had grabbed his staff and his shrunken broom and used his portkey watch to get to Hagrid's.
Harry said, "Hagrid, run to the castle. Get some help from the older students and professors. Remind them that the brooms are in the broom shed. Hermione has called the ministry. I'll see if I can put some of this out. Go."
The big man didn't need to be told twice.
… - …
A fire that large generated an unworldly amount of heat. The pitifully thin water soaked lines that they had created had dried within a minute and were being breached by the burning ash that seemed to be floating everywhere. Anne desperately tried to contain the fire along the southern line, as the four Aurors made a futile attempt to shore up their own fire lines.
… - …
Just as Harry was ready to mount his broom, he realized that the fire was where the spiders lived. Some elves had come down from the castle. Harry asked, "Can you transport the forest animals?"
"No Harry Potter, they are living."
"Can you stun them if I summon them?"
"We can do that."
In rapid succession, Harry called, "Accio Longclaw. Accio Longclaw's mate. Accio Longclaw's children. Accio Unicorns."
Moments later, the frightened animals started arriving. Harry was about to summon the thesterals and hippogriffs when he realized that they could fly away.
Harry got on his broom, staff in hand and flew off towards the fire.
… - …
Winky brought a long spool of twine that had been made into a portkey and wrapped it around so it was touching each of the stunned animals. Moments later, they were all gone.
The hundred elves from the castle popped to the west line of the fire. While they lacked the ability to put it down outright, they were able to keep that side from spreading into the village.
… - …
In the meantime Tuttle and Mikelson had gotten too close to the fire and had both fallen from their brooms from the smoke. Harry saw them on the ground with flames around them. He stunned and summoned them so they wouldn't get hurt or away. He didn't know who they were. Neither were wearing their auror robes.
After he verified that they were alive, he remounted his broom and began casting. Whereas Nib's aguamenti spell looked like a home hosepipe half turned on, Harry's spell, cast with his staff resembled an open fire hydrant . Within a few minutes he had stopped the spread of the fire along his side.
… - …
Pop, pop POP, pop, pop Pop. The Aurors began arriving. They immediately got to work and as a team, put the southernmost line under control close to the castle. Shack found Anne on the ground, where she also had fallen from smoke inhalation.
Amelia arrived with the rest of the aurors and happened to find Harry, who was getting ready to portkey the two idiots to Gringotts. She asked, "What happened?
Harry replied, "These two idiots and probably some of their pals purposefully set this section of the forest on fire. When Hagrid called me and I first got in the area, the fire was a neat square, These two idiots must have fallen off of their own brooms. I contained the fire along the eastern side and came back to check on these two when you arrived. Don't touch that," he said to one of the aurors who looked like he was going to pick up Harry's staff. Resuming his conversation he said, "These two fools killed or endangered every creature or being in the forest."
Just then, Shack came by and said, "We found Anne on the ground along the south line. She had passed out from smoke inhalation. Sandwick is treating her now."
Harry heard him and growled, "The new headmaster? She was in on this too?"
… - …
Anne woke up, saw the dozens of people there, putting out the fire or attending to other duties and knew that her plan had gotten way out of control.
Just then Harry walked up and said, "Who were the other brainless idiots you had in on this little caper?"
A bit dazed from her fall, the irritation was far too evident in her voice. She replied, "I don't report to you."
"You and your idiot boys had zero authority to enter the forest."
Anne hadn't been directly challenged in years. Unfortunately her fight or flight response was clearly set to fight. "You don't own the forest, little boy."
"That's the first time you've been right all night, academic twat. But unlike you, I know who does."
"Harry," warned Amelia.
Breathing hard, Harry shouted, "What? She fucked up the source of every wand that was made for Britain and Europe. Kingsley aught to lock her arse up and toss away the key. You and her have cost me millions."
"The ministry doesn't work like that."
He looked her in the eye and replied, "Really? I want her in jail by 9 am. Good evening, Minister." He picked up his staff and silently vanished.
Flitwick, who had come out to see how he could help, had seen the exchange and was deeply troubled. How had Potter found out?
A/Ns
Just when everything was going smoothly.
